8 Ways America's Cities Are Heartlessly Getting Rid Of the Homeless

Local governments choose to kick the homeless while they're down instead of extending a helping hand.

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Kicking Them Out

In the ultimate not-in-my-backyard move, states are literally kicking people over their borders.

A 2013 Hawaii state law, which has not yet been used, gives homeless people a free plane ticket back to the mainland. The state is also planning a massive campaign to discourage people from relocating to the island paradise, and to move people into shelters.

Columbia, South Carolina, adopted a draconian law in 2013 that forced homeless people to accept a bus ride to a remote shelter and be banned from returning downtown—or face arrest. The council repealed the law after public outcry.

Homeless camp on beach in Honolulu. (Photo: Joe Philipson/Flickr)

Street Sweeps

In Los Angeles and Fresno, California, it is illegal to leave property unattended in the street, and “abandoned” property can be confiscated and destroyed. Court rulings, however, have stated that people must be forewarned about a sweep and given a chance to claim their belongings before they are destroyed.

Honolulu aggressively conducts nighttime sweeps to clear personal property off the streets in what Mayor Kirk Caldwell calls a campaign of “compassionate disruption.” Under the sidewalk nuisance law, people can claim their property by paying a $200 fee.

An encampment for the homeless in Iwilei was cleared by the City and County of Honolulu in January 2014. (Photo: Ryan Ozawa/Flickr)

Stay Awake

Many cities prohibit sleeping out-of-doors, also known as “public camping.” Mobile, Alabama, takes it one step further—sleeping in vacant barns and railroad cars is banned.

Placerville, California, takes another tack: It charges private property owners who allow people to camp on their land for more than two consecutive nights with creating a public nuisance.

Dozing off in your car is now illegal in many places. Do it in Palo Alto, California, and it can cost you a hefty $1,000 fine or a jail term of up to six months.

(Photo: Adam Lister/Getty Images)

Stay Hungry and Dirty

Gainesville, Florida, limits soup kitchens to serving 130 meals a day. After a protest, the city council relaxed the meal limit for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a third holiday of choice.

Tighter controls are being seen in bathrooms. In Pensacola, Florida, washing and shaving are prohibited in public restrooms. In Honolulu, the city has started closing public restrooms earlier.

(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Moneymaking Limits

No Dumpster diving in Indianapolis. The city metes out a $2,500 fine for scavenging trash from streets or alleys or for transporting it.

Fresno, California, makes people who want to sell items from the traffic median—bags of oranges or flowers, for example—get a permit.

Mobile, Alabama, outlaws “aggressive panhandling,” the definition of which includes asking for a donation from someone standing in line outside a business.

People in Springfield, Illinois, are not allowed to “vocally appeal” for donations but can silently hold signs. The law is being challenged on First Amendment grounds.

(Photo: Carl-Henrik Skårstedt/Flickr)

No Hanging Around

Little Rock, Arkansas, prohibits “parking or lingering near closed businesses after closing,” while in Manchester, New Hampshire, it’s illegal to “lounge” in public plazas. Boise, Idaho, outlaws “loafing.”

The posh hamlet of Newport, Rhode Island, prohibits “remaining idly in essentially one location…colloquially known as ‘hanging around.’ ”

(Photo: Robyn Beck/Getty Images)

Don't Lean on Me

Here’s Why No One Should Ever Wear These 10 Halloween Costumes Again

From people wearing blackface to dressing up as dead celebrities, questionable costumes are in high supply by the end of October. The time-honored tradition of dressing up for Halloween can easily go wrong when costumes toe the politically incorrect line.

Already this year a man dressed up as Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens running back who made headlines for knocking out his fiancée and dragging her body outside of an Atlantic City elevator. A simple Google search will unearth examples of misguided Halloweeners dressed as Boston Marathon victims and exploding World Trade Centers.

The shelves of big box retailers and specialty stores are littered with inappropriate options that tempt people to push the limits. But the treat of dressing up can quickly turn into a trick, like it did for some pretty prominent people. Here’s a good list of costumes to avoid so you don’t cross the line from spooky to unacceptable.

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Bans on feeding homeless people, prohibitions on sitting or lying down on a sidewalk, or outlawing sleeping in cars. These are just a few of the fresh ways cities across the country are trying to force homeless people off the streets through a patchwork of petty local laws that aim to penalize them rather than help them.

Last week 90-year-old Arnold Abbott of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was cited by police for violating a city ban on “public feeding” when he tried to dish up some pasta and chicken stew to the hungry in his area. That incident underscores how cities are squeezing out homeless people by restricting normal human behaviors in public areas, such as sitting on a curb, napping on a park bench, or leaving a bag in a doorway.

The laws primarily affect the homeless because they have nowhere to go other than public spaces. “It’s making their life harder,” said Michael Stoops, director of community organizing for the National Coalition for the Homeless. “It’s trying to make the homeless less visible.”

According to the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, these laws have proliferated since 2011—bans on public camping are up 60 percent; sleeping in vehicles, up 119 percent; sitting or lying on sidewalks, up 43 percent.

The fight to preserve human dignity for the homeless is cropping up from Hawaii to South Carolina and many points beyond.

Here’s a look at some of the troubling anti-homeless legal tactics that are gaining popularity

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